Home > Secrets of the Sword 1(9)

Secrets of the Sword 1(9)
Author: Lindsay Buroker

Maybe later, I would show my cut to Zoltan and see if he had any ideas. It still hurt but not so badly that I couldn’t enjoy a couple of hours with Zav first. I’d missed him, and he’d been sending me seductive looks the whole drive back. Before I’d met him, I never would have guessed that a man in a black robe and elven slippers could get me excited. Funny how things changed.

“They will be pleased that you brought them gifts,” Freysha said, trailing us up the steps.

“More like bribes. Zoltan promised to cut me a deal on my next invoice.”

Zav led me across the living room toward the stairs. If I delayed by chatting further, he might sweep me over his shoulder and carry me up to the bedroom. Which wouldn’t be awful. He had those nicely muscular shoulders.

My phone buzzed before we got to the stairs.

“Hang on.” I checked it.

“Does that contraption never cease bothering you?” He again looked like he might incinerate my phone.

It was Amber, Amber who preferred texting to calling. Had something happened?

“It’s my daughter. I have to take it.” I patted Zav on the chest. “Wait for me in the bedroom, and I’ll be right up.”

I answered the phone, afraid it would drop to voice mail if I delayed.

“Very well.” He looked over his shoulder as he ascended, sharing his flirtatious bedroom eyes with me. “I will wait for you naked and aroused, my mate.”

“Oh, my God, ew,” came a familiar voice from the phone.

“Hey, Amber.” I decided not to say anything about Zav’s comment. Maybe she would think it had been the TV. “What’s up?”

“Your dragon lover, apparently. Disgusting.”

So much for the TV. I hadn’t realized she’d met Zav enough times to know his voice.

“We’re engaged in a consensual adult relationship,” I said, hoping Thad had long ago had some version of The Talk with her. From what I’d gathered, she wasn’t that into boys, but she had turned fifteen and was a sophomore in high school, so she was probably more worldly than I wanted to think. “My therapist promises me it’s healthy and normal, not disgusting.”

“Nothing you do is normal, Val.”

I didn’t know how to rebut that. She was right. “Did you call for a reason beyond reminding me of that? Did you change your mind about a weekend sparring session?”

“I have too much homework this weekend. I was hoping you could tell Dad to stop being stupid with women.”

“As one of the women he was once stupid with, I probably can’t advise him on that. But what’s wrong? Isn’t he dating Nin? She’s nice.”

Not only was Nin the maker of Fezzik, along with more magical ammunition and grenades than I could count, but I considered her a friend.

“He got a bunch of Tiffany and Cartier catalogs, and he’s shopping for some ridiculously expensive bling as a gift for her. Is she another gold digger, Val? What the hell?”

“No, she’s not. I highly doubt she asked for… Those are jewelry stores, right?”

“Yes, Val,” Amber said in that tone one reserved for remedial students. “Expensive jewelry. Why can’t he just get her flowers? Like a normal person? Are you sure she’s not thirsty for earrings or bracelets and asked him for some? I don’t like this.”

“I’ve never even seen Nin wear jewelry. She holds her pigtails up with elastic hairbands.”

“Pigtails. I forgot about that. She’s practically younger than I am. This isn’t working for me.”

“She’s thirty, and it’s more important that it work for them.” I didn’t expect Amber to love the women her father dated, but her distaste bothered me more now that Thad was dating one of my friends, instead of that bitchy Shauna, who truly had been a gold digger.

“How can you say that? He’s my dad. He hasn’t even known her for two months. Did you know they’re already sleeping together? I came out this morning, and she was here. In a towel. Val. He barely broke up with the last girlfriend. I have to do something about this.”

“Ah, please don’t.”

“I don’t trust her.”

“If they’re happy, you should be happy for him. I think he’s been lonely.”

“I can’t believe you’re saying that. I thought I could talk to you about this. Whatever.” She hung up before I could come up with a response.

I stared at the phone, wondering if I should call her back. But what would I say? That she was being an immature brat about this? No, we’d finally gotten to the point where we had a modicum of a relationship. I didn’t want to drive a wedge between us. Maybe I’d let her cool off and try calling later.

Or maybe I could come up with a way to let her get to know Nin without Thad in the picture. Would Amber agree to go someplace with me if it wasn’t for a distinct purpose?

She’d helped me shop for dresses once, but that had been out of pity, since I had the fashion sense of a henchman in a dystopian novel. She’d agreed to the sword-fighting lessons, but only because she’d wanted a sword, and Thad had insisted I be the one to teach her to use it. Even though she spoke to me voluntarily from time to time, she still didn’t seem to want to hang out with me. And I couldn’t blame her for that when I’d stayed out of her life for more than ten years.

Maybe I would talk to Thad, if only to advise him on gifts that Nin might actually like. And that were monetarily appropriate after two months of dating. It wasn’t as if Thad was Daddy Warbucks.

My mate, Zav’s voice rumbled telepathically in my mind. Why do you delay?

Just dealing with some family matters. Hey, Zav. If you were going to give a woman a gift, you wouldn’t buy something frivolous and expensive, right?

Do you wish frivolous and expensive baubles?

No. I’m asking for a friend.

Given the variety of horrific shoes he’d picked out for himself during his experiments with Earth footwear, I shuddered to think what kind of baubles he might select for a girl.

As a gift, I would allow my mate the honor of riding on my back as we soared over the ocean and witnessed sights that were magnificent and splendorous.

We’ve done that. You showed me a nest of recently hatched black oystercatchers tucked in a seaside cliff.

Was it not a fabulous gift? Far more appealing than baubles.

You’re right. It was.

I had no idea how Thad could replicate such a gift, but I smiled and headed upstairs. I would figure out the sword—and how to bring peace to Thad and Amber’s household—in the morning.

 

 

5

 

 

Zav and I arrived early enough at the Sable Dragon to find open tables. It helped that Dimitri had rearranged the display cases of Zoltan’s alchemical tinctures and creams to make room for more seating. The shelves of enchanted yard-art and house gadgets were relegated to the back walls—the last time we’d replenished our inventory, Dimitri had reluctantly agreed that his work sold the least and should take up the least space in our shop. That hadn’t kept him from hanging the relatively flat pieces between the windows and on the wall behind the coffee kiosk.

Our barista, Tam, would occasionally give wary looks to the flywheel-and-mattress-spring luck golem leering down at her. Whether her primary concern was that it would fall off or put a curse on her, I didn’t know.

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